Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye begins/node/2585246/world
Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye begins
People watch as the hearse containing the casket of former President Jimmy Carter passes through Byron, Ga., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, en route to Atlanta. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP)
PLAINS, Georgia: Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye began on Saturday in Georgia, with the 39th US president’s flag-draped casket rolling through his tiny hometown and past his boyhood farmhouse on its way to Atlanta, where he climbed the political ladder and based his decades of humanitarian work after leaving the White House.
The former president’s six-day state funeral started in Americus at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center, where current and former Secret Service agents who protected the late president loaded his remains into a black hearse and walked alongside as it rolled off the campus toward Plains.
With Carter’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren accompanying their patriarch, a mournful train whistle filled the clear air as the pallbearers faced the hearse, hands on their hearts, for a final goodbye.
In Plains, where Carter was born Oct. 1, 1924, and lived most of his life, mourners lined the main street, some holding bouquets of flowers and wearing pins bearing images of the former president. He died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
“We want to pay our respects,” said 12-year-old Will Porter Shelbrock, who was born more than three decades after Carter left the White House in 1981. “He was ahead of his time on what he tried to do and tried to accomplish.”
It was Porter Shelbrock’s idea to make the trip to Plains from Gainesville, Florida, with his grandmother, Susan Cone, 66. He admires Carter for his humanitarian work building houses and waging peace, and talking about a warming planet before the climate crisis was part of routine political discourse.
Willie Browner, 75, described Carter as hailing from a bygone era of American politics. “This man, he thought of more than just himself,” said Browner, who grew up in the town of Parrott, about 15 miles from Plains, before moving to Miami. Browner said it meant “a great deal” to have a president come from a small southern town like his — something he worries isn’t likely to happen again.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has formally kicked off its first anti-polio drive of 2025 today, Monday, to vaccinate over 45 million children under the age of five, the health ministry said as the country hopes to stem the spread of the disease.
The Pakistan polio program conducts multiple mass vaccination drives in a year, and this year’s first anti-polio vaccination campaign is expected to continue till Feb. 9. Pakistan has assembled teams of around 400,000 polio workers to go door-to-door countrywide to vaccinate children below five years of age, Coordinator for Health Dr. Mukhtar Bharath said.
Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five are essential to provide children high immunity against the disease.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched Pakistan’s first anti-polio drive of 2025 during an event in Islamabad on Sunday, administering polio drops to children during the ceremony.
“During the polio campaign, more than 45 million children across the country will be administered polio drops,” the Ministry of Health’s spokesperson said.
Dr. Bharath called on parents to support polio vaccinators and ensure their children received the vaccines.
“It is the national and moral responsibility of parents to vaccinate all children under the age of five,” he said.
Pakistan has reported only one polio case this year. However, last year the South Asian country reported 73 cases with Balochistan province reporting 27, the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh reporting 22 case each, and Pakistan’s capital city and eastern Punjab province each reporting one case of the disease throughout the year.
Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the disease is endemic.
Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies.
Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) has busted an international drug gang and arrested nine suspects who had “framed” a Pakistani family in their bid to smuggle narcotics to Saudi Arabia, the Pakistani interior ministry said on Sunday.
Farhana Akram, a resident of Lahore, had traveled to Saudi Arabia with her four family members, Haroon Ali, Malik Aziz, Fouzia Aziz, and Zakria Begum, on December 23, when the gang swapped Akram’s luggage tag with the help of an airport staff, according to the interior ministry.
Consequently, Farhana and her family members were detained in Saudi Arabia. The ANF investigated the case and detained a porter after viewing airport footage, which led to the arrest of nine suspects, including the ringleader.
“The ANF provided evidence to Saudi authorities, which led to the release of the innocent family,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and ANF Director-General Maj. Gen. Abdul Mueed visited the affected family at their residence and congratulated them on their return home.
“The pain the family endured is indescribable,” he said, praising the ANF and the Saudi authorities for their cooperation. “I extend special thanks to the Saudi government.”
Naqvi said the ANF had initiated a nationwide crackdown against smugglers, cautioning citizens to remain vigilant against individuals offering free Umrah packages as such offers could be deceitful.
Separately, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said on Sunday it had arrested 10 persons deported from Saudi Arabia for allegedly begging in the Kingdom, despite traveling there on Umrah visas.
The trend of beggars abusing visas to beg in foreign countries has Pakistan worried that it could impact genuine visa-seekers and particularly religious pilgrims traveling to Saudi Arabia. According to widespread media reports, Riyadh raised this issue with Islamabad at various forums last year.
Pakistanis are the second-largest expatriate community in the Kingdom, with over 2.5 million living and working in Saudi Arabia, the top source of remittances to the South Asian country.
Doncic releases emotional farewell message to Dallas after trade sends him to Lakers
A native of Slovenia, Doncic had built deep ties to Dallas off the floor, including through many charitable organizations
Doncic: As I start the next part of my basketball journey, I am leaving a city that will always feel like a home away from home
Updated 38 min 13 sec ago
AP
NEW YORK: Luka Doncic released an emotional farewell to Dallas on Sunday, the same day a trade sending him from the Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers in a swap for fellow All-NBA player Anthony Davis was finalized.
Doncic said in a letter to the city that he “wanted so badly to bring you a championship” and that he thought he’d spend his career in Dallas.
“For a young kid from Slovenia coming to the US for the first time, you made North Texas fell like home,” Doncic wrote. “In good times and bad, from injuries to the NBA Finals, your support never changed. Thank you not only for sharing my joy in our best moments, but also for lifting me up when I needed it most.”
Doncic was enormously popular in Dallas — and everywhere else. His No. 77 Mavericks jersey ranked eighth among best-sellers through NBAStore.com over the first half of the season. On Sunday night, some Doncic items remained for sale on the Mavs’ shopping site.
His jersey sales will likely skyrocket again now, when the Lakers make his new ones available.
“Grateful for this amazing opportunity,” Doncic wrote in another social media post, linking it to one from the Lakers’ accounts welcoming him to Los Angeles. “Basketball means everything to me, and no matter where I play the game, I’ll do so with the same joy, passion and goal — to win championships.”
Doncic had built deep ties to Dallas off the floor, including through many charitable organizations. He had given large sums of money to various entities in North Texas and arranged for Jordan Brand sneakers — he represents the brand — to be given to frontline workers in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The appreciation was mutual. When Doncic led Slovenia to a berth into the Tokyo Olympics that were held in 2021, Dallas County Commissioners declared July 6 of that year as “Luka Doncic Day” in celebration of both his on- and off-court accomplishments.
In only 422 games, he ranks sixth on Dallas’ all-time scoring list, is second in 3-pointers in Mavs history behind only Dirk Nowitzki, is third on the club list in rebounds and fifth in assists.
“To all the organizations I’ve worked with throughout the Dallas community, thank you for letting me contribute to your important work and join you in bringing light to those who need it,” Doncic wrote. “As I start the next part of my basketball journey, I am leaving a city that will always feel like a home away from home. Dallas is a special place, and Mavs fans are special fans.”
Rory McIlroy overpowers Pebble Beach and wins in a runaway
McIlroy won for the 27th time on the tour and is 21st on the career victory list
Updated 45 min 9 sec ago
AP
PEBBLE BEACH, California: Rory McIlroy played a game nearly as magnificent as the Pebble Beach scenery Sunday as he powered his way past a pack of contenders and closed with a 6-under 66 for a two-shot victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
McIlroy is one of the top attractions in golf, which only added to the appeal of the surprising sunshine and crashing surf at America’s most famous coastal golf course. And just like that, a sleepy start to the PGA Tour season had some life to it.
On a day when six players had at least a share of the lead, McIlroy took the top spot for good with an 18-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole into a stiff breeze along the Pacific. He effectively ended the drama with a towering drive and a 7-iron into the 571-yard 14th hole, setting up an eagle putt from just outside 25 feet.
“To win at one of the cathedrals of golf is really cool,” McIlroy said.
Shane Lowry fell out of a share for the lead when he sent his second shot over a cliff to the right of the par-5 sixth. But he shot 31 on the back nine, including a birdie on the final hole for a 68 that gave him second place alone.
Lucas Glover (67) and Justin Rose (68) were another shot behind. Sepp Straka, who started the final round with a one-shot lead, had a 72 and tied for seventh.
Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player whose season was delayed by minor hand surgery from punctured glass while making ravioli, closed with a 67 and tied for ninth.
McIlroy has talked about this being an important year for him, though his focus was more on April through September — an 11th chance to complete the career Grand Slam at the Masters, a return home to Northern Ireland for the British Open, a road Ryder Cup at Bethpage.
This wasn’t a bad start.
“It’s a really cool way to start the season,” said McIlroy, who won for the second time in California. “To get this win this early means a great deal, and hopefully I’ll keep the momentum going into Torrey Pines in a couple weeks’ time.”
The sixth hole began to separate the pack a little. In consecutive groups, Rose went over the cliff with his tee shot and Tom Kim hit down the hill toward the ocean with his second shot. Lowry followed him in the final group, leading to bogey.
But really, McIlroy looked as though he was the player to beat from the second hole, when he hit a tough pitch from 50 yards away over a bunker to a back pin with enough height and spin to set up a 2-foot birdie putt.
But it was after his lone bogey on the tough eighth hole where he pulled away — the 18-foot birdie on the 10th, a tee shot into 8 feet for birdie on the par-3 12th and finally get his due on the 14th hole. McIlroy drilled his drive for the third straight day over a tree, over the bunker complex and into the fairway. The previous two days, he had to settle for par.
This time, he cashed in for an eagle, extending his lead to four shots. And when he hit wedge into 3 feet for birdie on the 15th, it led to one of the best stress-free and gorgeous walks on the PGA Tour.
Everyone else was left in a hopeless chase.
“When he’s good, he’s great. And when he’s not great, he’s good,” Glover said. “There’s a reason he’s got 20-something wins and a bunch of majors and the game he has. Impressive round out there today under the pressure and under the conditions.”
McIlroy won for the 27th time on the tour and is 21st on the career victory list. He’s been stuck on four majors since winning the PGA Championship 11 years ago, and that he is sure to be reminded of that as the Masters gets closers.
For now, this will do. It’s his second victory in a signature event that McIlroy and other top players helped to create.
“When he’s good, he’s great and when he’s not great, he’s good,” Glover said. “There’s a reason he’s got 20-something wins and a bunch of majors and the game he has. Impressive round out there today under the pressure and under the conditions.”
McIlroy won his second signature event — he won at Quail Hollow last year — to earn $3.6 million. He finished at 21-under 267, one shot to par away from the tournament record.
Lowry at least tried to make him sweat, staying within range until missing a 7-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole that would have narrowed the gap to two. His final birdie, however, gave him a tidy consolation of $2.16 million for second place.
“I always say I believe when players like Rory McIlroy turns up and they have their ‘A’ game, they’re pretty impossible to beat,” Lowry said.
After imposing sweeping tariffs, Trump announces talks with Canada and Mexico
China, Mexico and Canada are the top three US trade partners and all have vowed to retaliate when the tariffs take effect Tuesday
Experts warn that Trump’s tariffs could reduce US economic growth and throw Canada and Mexico into recession
Says Americans may feel economic “pain” from his tariffs, but argued it would be “worth the price” to secure US interests
Updated 03 February 2025
Agencies
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said he will discuss the punishing tariffs he has levied on Canada and Mexico with both countries on Monday, after arguing that Americans may feel economic “pain” from the 25 percent duties but that it will be “worth the price.”
Speaking to reporters after he flew back to Washington Sunday evening from a weekend in Florida, Trump said he was “speaking with Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau tomorrow morning, and I’m also speaking with Mexico tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t expect anything very dramatic,” he added.
Trump has also hit China with a 10-percent tariff in addition to levies already in place.
A fervent supporter of tariffs, Trump had always maintained that their impact would be borne by foreign exporters, without being passed on to American consumers, contradicting the opinion of a broad range of experts.
Earlier Sunday he acknowledged, in a series of messages on his Truth Social network, that Americans may feel economic “pain” from his tariffs, but argued it would be “worth the price” to secure US interests.
China, Mexico and Canada are the top three US trade partners and all have vowed to retaliate when the tariffs take effect Tuesday.
“Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!)” Trump wrote Sunday morning in all-caps on his Truth Social media platform.
“But we will Make America Great Again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid.”
Analysts expect the trade war to slow US growth and increase prices, at least in the short term, something the president had resisted acknowledging after frustration over rising costs was seen as a major factor in his 2024 election win.
Seeking to limit a spike in fuel prices, Trump has put the levy on energy imports from Canada at only 10 percent.
The president has cited illegal immigration and the trafficking of the deadly opioid fentanyl as reasons for the “emergency” measures.
But on Sunday he also expressed general outrage at trade deficits, which he has long viewed as signs of unfair treatment against the United States.
“The USA has major deficits with Canada, Mexico, and China (and almost all countries!), owes 36 Trillion Dollars, and we’re not going to be the ‘Stupid Country’ any longer,” he wrote.
The tariffs announcements capped an extraordinary second week of Trump’s new term, with the president facing the worst US aviation disaster in years — even as his administration moved to drastically overhaul the government in actions decried by critics as illegal.
While some economies believe the levies are likely to be temporary, the outlook is unclear because the White House set very general conditions for their removal.
A White House fact sheet gave no details on what the three countries would need to do to win a reprieve.
Trump vowed to keep them in place until what he described as a national emergency over fentanyl, a deadly opioid, and illegal immigration to the United States ends. China left the door open for talks with the United States. Its sharpest pushback was over fentanyl.
Canada hits back
In a separate social media post, Trump took particular aim at Canada, repeating his call for America’s northern neighbor to become a US state.
Claiming the United States pays “hundreds of billions of dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada,” Trump said that “without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country.”
“Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State,” he said, reiterating the expansionist threat against one of his country’s closest allies.
The US Census Bureau says the 2024 trade deficit in goods with Canada was $55 billion.
Canadian backlash was swift, with video posted to social media showing fans at a Toronto Raptors game Sunday booing during the US national anthem.
Canada said on Sunday it will take legal action under the relevant international bodies to challenge the tariffs.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also encouraged Canadians on Sunday to boycott their longtime ally after ordering retaliatory tariffs against $155 billion of US goods, from peanut butter, beer and wine to lumber and appliances.
Canadian officials said they were preparing measures to help business who might be hurt by the trade war.
Trudeau vowed Saturday to hit back with 25 percent levies on select American goods worth Can$155 billion ($106.6 billion), with a first round on Tuesday followed by a second one in three weeks.
Leaders of several Canadian provinces have already announced retaliatory actions as well, such as the immediate halt of US liquor purchases.
The White House has not publicly announced what actions could end the tariffs.
“It’s hard to know what more we can do, but we’re obviously open to any other suggestions that come our way,” Canada’s ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman told ABC News on Sunday.
Mexico, China push back
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she, also, was awaiting Trump’s response to her proposal for dialogue.
She said she had directed her economy minister to “implement Plan B,” which includes unspecified “tariff and non-tariff measures,” promising to detail Monday the steps she intends to take.
Trump said Sunday he also planned to hit the European Union with tariffs “pretty soon,” to which the EU said earlier it would “respond firmly.”
“Fentanyl is America’s problem,” China’s foreign ministry said, adding that China has taken extensive measures to combat the problem.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, raising her fist in the air in a speech outside the capital, vowed resilience.
She accused the United States of failing to tackle its fentanyl problem and said it would not be solved by tariffs.
Sheinbaum said she would provide more details on Monday of the retaliatory tariffs she ordered this weekend.
Warnings of inflation, recession
EY Chief Economist Greg Daco said Trump’s tariffs could reduce US economic growth by 1.5 percentage points this year, throw Canada and Mexico into recession and usher in “stagflation” — high inflation, stagnant economic growth and elevated unemployment — at home.
Trump’s move was the first strike in a what could be a destructive global trade war that Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics said would lead to a surge in US inflation that would “come even faster and be larger than we initially expected.
US crude oil futures jumped more than $2 to hit $75 per barrel, while stock futures fell. The S&P 500 E-mini futures were down 2 percent, while Nasdaq futures were down 2.75 percent.
The Trump tariffs, outlined in three executive orders, are due to take effect 12:01 a.m. ET (0501 GMT) on Tuesday. Markets were awaiting developments with anxiety, but some analysts said there was some hope for negotiations, especially with Canada and China.
“The tariffs look likely to take effect, though a last-minute compromise cannot be completely ruled out,” Goldman Sachs economists said in a note Sunday.
The tariff announcement made good on Trump’s repeated 2024 campaign threat, defying warnings from economists that a trade war would erode growth and raise prices for consumers and companies.
Trump declared a national emergency under two laws, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act, which give the president sweeping powers to impose sanctions to address crises.
Trade lawyers said Trump could face legal challenges for testing the limits of US laws. Democratic lawmakers Suzan DelBene and Don Beyer decried what they called a blatant abuse of executive power. Others warned about rising prices.
“No matter which way you slice it: costs are going to climb for consumers,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, vowing to try to “undo this mess.”
Republicans welcomed Trump’s action.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week showed Americans were divided on tariffs, with 54 percent opposing new duties on imported goods and 43 percent in support, with Democrats more opposed and Republicans more supportive.
Investors look ahead
Investors were considering the effects of additional tariffs promised by Trump, including those related to oil and gas, as well as steel, aluminum, semiconductor chips and pharmaceuticals. Trump has also vowed actions against the European Union.
A European Commission spokesperson said the EU “would respond firmly to any trading partner that unfairly or arbitrarily imposes tariffs on EU goods.” Europe’s biggest carmaker, Volkswagen, said it was counting on talks to avoid trade conflict.
Automakers would be particularly hard hit, with new tariffs on vehicles built in Canada and Mexico burdening a vast regional supply chain where parts can cross borders several times before final assembly.
Trump imposed only a 10 percent duty on energy products from Canada after oil refiners and Midwestern states raised concerns. At nearly $100 billion in 2023, imports of crude oil accounted for roughly a quarter of all US imports from Canada, according to US Census Bureau data.
White House officials said Canada specifically would no longer be allowed the “de minimiz” US duty exemption for shipments under $800. The officials said Canada, along with Mexico, has become a conduit for shipments of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals into the US via small packages that are not often inspected by customs agents.
